Tips for Living Green

Tips for Living Green
Remember when "environmentalist" meant… recycling?

It's not so simple anymore. Being an environmentalist today calls for a whole new level of greener thinking—from what you choose at the grocery store to how you commute to work every day.

Going green all at once is too much for almost anyone to accomplish. Instead, try making just one new change or adding one new habit or resolve each week. You'll be surprised at how it adds up after just a year.

Here are a few to get you started:

• A laptop uses just a quarter of the power required by a desktop computer.
  
• Contaminants are tracked into homes on the soles of shoes. Consider becoming a shoe-free household. Clever designs for shoe storage near the front door can keep entries clutter-free and indoor air cleaner at the same time.
  
• Generating enough electricity to cook for an hour in a standard electric oven creates 2.7 pounds of carbon dioxide. Here's a list of what can do it for less: toaster oven, 1.3 pounds over 50 minutes; slow cooker, 0.9 pounds over seven hours; and microwave, 0.5 pounds over 15 minutes.
  
• If a vehicle's tires have less than recommended air pressure, gas mileage will suffer. Determine the correct pressure level from the small plaque likely found just inside the driver's-side door, but possibly on a rear doorpost, in the trunk/latch area, the glove box, or even on the sun visor.
  
• Wrapping a water heater with insulation can keep as many as 1,000 pounds of global-warming CO2 a year out of the upper atmosphere.
  
• Using cold water can save up to 80 percent of the energy required to wash clothes.
  
• Use safeclimate.net/calculator/ to determine how much your travel by car or plane fouls up the environment by spewing CO2 into the atmosphere.
  
• Some commercial air fresheners use chemicals that can be harmful to a baby's development. Instead, lightly spritz the place with vinegar.
  
• Vinegar will clean out deposits clogging a steam iron or coffeemaker.
  
• A cup of vinegar will clean a washing machine. Run it through a regular cycle -- but not with clothes.
• Install a programmable thermostat that lets you automatically lower the temperature when no one is home or when the family is asleep.
• The average American home contains two televisions, a VCR and/or DVD player and three phones. These home electronics can use more energy than you think. As you replace existing equipment, look for Energy Star models that help reduce carbon emissions.